By Dan Carrigan
LANCASTER, Pa. – Monday was Doug Kollmar’s first day on the job.
“I’ve been going through the process of getting oriented to the company and meeting all the people I work with,” Kollmar said.
The civil engineer is happy to be working. His former employer laid him off. So he took a job at Rettew and Associates in Lancaster.
“Everything has gone fine,” Kollmar said.
Kollmar is one of nearly 200 hires this year, 50 in the Lancaster office alone.
The company has doubled its staff, added a new office building, and increased revenue by 107 percent. So why the sudden increase? The engineering company said it can be attributed to Marcellus Shale drilling.
“This is kind of what we all dreamed for as an engineer…you want to have robust work, you want to be hiring people, you want to be doing well,” Rettew President Mark Lauriello said.
They’re not alone. Marcellus Shale drilling has helped fuel the bottom line at the Mount Joy Wire. It even helped add a handful of positions.
“It’s the whole trickle down theory. Our customers are busier, so we’re busier; hence our vendors are busier, so it just works its way down the line,” Mount Joy Wire CFO Scott Badger said.
Badger said his company makes the wire that is put in the brushes used by energy companies.
“To clean…pipeline for oil and natural gas companies,” Badger explained.
“Anything that can add to our business, that can up the economy, that can help the state…it’s good for us,” Badger said. “It’s good for everyone.”
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